A sequel to my dearly departed 8-year-old blog, Ä Canuck in Emperor Akihito's Court"(http://haruhiko.blogspot.com). Back home in Canada but still have those ties to Japan after 17 years' residency there.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Blue Jays are Back!

Tuesday April 2, 12:15 p.m.

Well, I don't think I've heard so much talk about the Blue Jays than has occurred in the past number of months. All these new players like R.A. Dickey, Melky Cabrera and the rest along with the veterans such as Arencibia and Batista. Now, after the previous season of disappointment, everyone here is just gabbing away about a possible World Series victory. Hmmm.....way too early to talk about that, in my opinion. I just heard the president of the Blue Jays himself say "You can't buy chemistry." And we have yet to see that with the so-called New Look Jays....although in several hours, we'll all get that opportunity when they take on the Indians tonight down at the Rogers Centre. At this point, I'll be grateful if they win the home opener and then eventually get into the post-season.

It's hard for me to believe that after the Jays won that dramatic 1993 World Series, they never got back into the playoffs. It was in 1994 that I went off to Japan for my long stint there, so my connection with the Bluebirds became very tenuous; I'd thought that the team had made it into October at least a couple of times. But it's been a very long drought for them. I still remember that night when the Jays took it all at Skydome. I was in a bar just north of Summerhill on Yonge with a lot of my friends when the up-and-down Game 6 unfolded like a Hollywood movie in front of our eyes. Me and the folks in the bar were suffering and exulting on every run and out. But that 9th inning was one for my life....when Joe Carter hit that home run, everyone lost it. I haven't had that feeling of joy shake my bones since that moment. And then I saw the other bars and taverns just vomit the customers onto Yonge St as car horns blared like trumpets. By the time, we got down to Yonge and Bloor, the streets were as packed as rush hour subways. At one point, we got scared that we were going to be crushed to death so we ended up taking refuge at a donut shop for an hour or two before things calmed down....relatively speaking.

We all tiredly separated around 2 a.m in the morning. I had to walk all the way east to Broadview and Danforth before I could actually hail a taxi to get home. But those were happy days in Toronto. I wonder if the 2013 Jays will bring that joy back in October.

This is the commercial that played immediately after the Jays clinched it all. I never heard a whole bar sing a Coke jingle before.